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Politickin'

Right south of the Wedge on Lyndale on the North East corner I spotted a rider not with the Mass. I cruised over to flyer him and spread the good word of Critical

Mass... The encounter went something like this:

Me: "Hi, come ride with Critical Mass"

Rider: "I thought Critical Mass was on the last Friday of the month".

Me: "It does, and it is my man". I hand him a couple stickers.

Rider: "Today is the last day of the month"?

Me: As I ride away, "All day long 'til midnight"!

As I pull off the corner the light changes on Lyndale and the Mass pulls out from the light heading south. This makes it difficult if not impossible to immediately join them because they are in the right most lane and traffic is slowly moving past them in the left lane. The northbound lane of Lyndale however is backed up for blocks, just two rows of coffins lined up on the street. The northbound traffic pulls up for two car lengths into the intersection and has to stop because it's so backed up. So, really, I just pulled into the intersection of parked cars and kept going south. The safest most un-used part of the street was between the northbound parking lot. So, I just kept on riding south in the northbound lane. There must have been a hundred cars that I passed.

I'm not here to recommend riding in the opposite direction of traffic. However, in the case, it was the safest place to be. I'm more of an aggressive urban rider. I know I've paid just as much for these roads as the vehicle drivers, so it annoys me when they tell me to ride on the sidewalk or don't give me my 3 feet as outlined in the Minnesota Traffic Laws.

The trasition back to the Mass was problematic. I had to stay in the northbound lane for a block or two and by this point I had passed the Mass and was about a half block ahead of them. At an intersection with a light, a southbound car was taking a left and having a bit of a time getting through the rows of coffins heading north. I however, saw this as an opportune time to get on over into the southbound lane. So, at the intersection I kinda weaved my way through the turning car (who was dead stopped) and took my rightful place in the right lane heading south. There was the small matter of the Mass being 1/2 block north of me at that point and no cars moving in the left southbound lane so cars were cutting into the right lane in front of the Mass and gunning it to get to where they were going 12 seconds faster. A small white pickup was my victim as I took my place in the right lane going south - he had to tap his brakes a bit and this pissed him off to no end as he revved his engine and honked his horn. "Oh my what power you have!" I exclaimed as I rose and slapped my ass to demonstrate where the real power comes frome - gluts and thighs move the world not oil! I'm not so sure the white pickup got the message...

So, we stood around Loring and agreed to ride in one lane. On the return towards Loring, we were taking up both lanes and that's when I bailed. I don't think that's safe with 18 riders. It's not "mass" enough to me. I know, I know, but safe is a relative term to me.

WebMiester